


of redheads and grey skies

by echelons



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Nonbinary Character, Other, unmitigated fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 01:32:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14727446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echelons/pseuds/echelons
Summary: bored barista. snowy day. cute customer. the usual formula.





	of redheads and grey skies

**Author's Note:**

> Written for X-Men Femslash Week. The prompt was 'winter.'

The first snow of the year drifted down in peaceful swirls of white, settling lightly on the grey London street outside the café window. The passersby stomped along in their same old raincoats and black umbrellas, seemingly oblivious to the beauty falling down around them. From her place behind the coffee shop’s counter, Kitty Pryde let out a heavy sigh.

Last year, she’d seen the first snowfall of the year in upstate New York. She and her friends Doug and Illyana had skipped class to stage a snowball fight on the quad, and when first Dani and then Sam and Berto had snuck out to join them, the Professor had cancelled class altogether. They’d continued the fight until there was too little light to see by, at which point they’d all squeezed into the mansion’s warm if tiny kitchen and enjoyed hot chocolates that were more marshmallow than liquid. But that had been before the divorce, before Kitty’s parents had decided to relocate her to a special education school in England for “her own good.” Now, Doug and Illyana were out of reach, and she was stuck in an overheat café during the first snowfall, working the register, faking the least sarcastic smiles she could muster for overworked corporate employees and stressed parents.

The clanging of the bell over the front door brought her out of her thoughts, but in a moment of resentful rebellion, she stayed slumped against the counter, determined to look as unprofessional and unwelcoming as possible. At least, she did until she looked up and saw the approaching customer.

They were tall, or maybe that was the four inch heels on the thigh-high red leather boots they were wearing. They had a matching red leather jacket and close-cropped naturally red hair. What Kitty noticed most of all, though, were their eyes, a bright, lively green that stood out against their dark, smoky eyeliner. Hastily, Kitty scrambled to her feet, pulling on her shirt and trying to ignore the fact that her hair was probably sticking up in a million different directions at once. _Be cool_ , she told herself.

“Hiya! What can I get for you?” She said, and then immediately winced at how eager she sounded. That was definitely not _cool_.

The redhead didn’t seem to notice, however, as they merely smiled a bland, ordinary smile and ordered a mocha. Kitty fumbled over the register, mixing up pound notes for the first time in months, and stumbling over her words as she asked for the name for the order.

“Ray,” they said, and Kitty wrote it on the cup with a flourish. Then she turned her back to make the order with a sense of profound relief. She could write home and tell Doug that she had successfully made a fool of herself in front of a cute person today; he’d get a kick out of that. She made the drink hurriedly, pulling the espresso shots with a speed that her manager Kurt would have scolded her for. He always insisted that she take her time with the espresso machine- ‘Treat her like a lady,’ he’d say, with one of his pointy-toothed smiles- but, fortunately for Kitty, there was no one around today to see her try to get this cute customer away from her counter as fast as possible.

Unfortunately for Kitty, however, when she placed the drink on the counter, Ray didn’t leave. Instead, they said, “You’re not from around here.”

“Neither are you,” Kitty retorted, and then cringed. _How rude can you be?_ She asked herself, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. She could always blame the hyperactive thermostat for that.

“New York City native, born and bred,” Ray said, “but London’s a nice enough city, I guess.”

“Oh, puh-lease,” Kitty rolled her eyes. “You New Yorkers think you know everything.” _Why did you say that?_ She kicked herself mentally. Apparently rude was her default state today.

“Oh, yeah, Miss… Katherine,” They said, consulting her name tag. “And where are you from? Boston? Chicago?”

Kitty was pretty sure her cheeks were as red as Ray’s leather jacket by now. “Chicago area, yeah.”

“I guess that explains the attitude.” Ray said, but they were still smiling. Kitty didn’t have time to process what that meant before the bell over the door clanged again, and a rush of cold air swept into the room as a group of people entered. Kitty took advantage of the opportunity to flee to the other end of the counter, putting on her most professional face. The next few minutes were taken up with ringing up orders and fixing the drinks, taking care to treat her espresso machine like a lady. When she looked back up, she was just in time to see Ray crossing the street outside the window, a bright spot of color among the grey streets and white snow, moving steadily out of Kitty’s line of sight.

She was fighting back a swell of disappointment when she noticed the napkin left on the counter, the words scrawled in black ink in a messy hand, only slightly smudged by the coffee stain in the corner. _Call me? 811-41001 –Ray_. Kitty stared at the napkin for a moment, her cheeks hotter than ever, a smile spreading across her face. Yeah, she was _definitely_ going to tell Doug about this.


End file.
